Moncrief to face a recall election

Dan Kulin

Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.

Las Vegas City Councilwoman Janet Moncrief will face a recall election, which will probably be held around the end of January, City Clerk Roni Ronemus said Wednesday.

So community activist Vicki Quinn is wasting no time. Quinn is expected to turn in today a petition to put herself on the ballot.

Quinn will bring the city clerk a petition with 2,681 signatures on it at 2 p.m., a spokeswoman for her campaign said. If 2,106 of those signatures are determined to be from registered voters from the city's Ward 1, then Quinn would be on the recall ballot.

The Las Vegas recall election will be the second in 12 months in the area -- Boulder City's mayor and a city councilman survived a recall election in April.

Moncrief did not return telephone messages left at her office and on her cell phone Wednesday, but her opponents and potential challengers were excited by the successful effort to force a recall of the freshman councilwoman.

"We're thrilled," said Mary Green, one of the leaders of the group that collected signatures on the recall petition.

"We don't think she's served the ward well, and we're looking forward to having Vicki Quinn as a councilperson," Green said, referring to the group's efforts to put Quinn on the recall ballot.

But the man who lost his bid to oust Boulder City Mayor Bob Ferraro said the challengers face an uphill battle because the incumbent enters the contest with a boost from voters who are philosophically against removing an elected official from office mid-term.

Former Boulder City Councilman Bill Smith said the sentiment is evident in the outcomes of the two most recent elections he's run against Ferraro. Smith lost the June 2003 general election to Ferraro by 18 votes. Then in the April recall election, Ferraro beat Smith by more than 1,000 votes.

"A lot of people who would vote for me in the general election would not in the recall because they were against the recall," Smith said. "People felt that for better or worse you elected someone to a four-year term and that you're stuck with them for four years."

But Ferraro disagreed with Smith. The mayor said he thinks people were opposed to recalling him, and not swayed by a philosophical opposition to recall elections.

UNLV political science professor Ted Jelen said Moncrief might be hurt by the outcome of the recent impeachment trial of state Controller Kathy Augustine. Augustine was the first constitutional officer in Nevada history to be impeached, and she received a four-page written censure on a charge that she used state equipment for her 2002 campaign. The state Senate could have forced her out of office.

Jelen said any public displeasure with the Augustine resolution could cost Moncrief, who faces criminal charges for allegedly filing false campaign finance reports.

"This is a chance for the public to weigh in on the ethics of their elected officials," Jelen said. "The Augustine case has sensitized the public to allegations of misconduct."

The recall election of Moncrief was given the go-ahead Wednesday after the Clark County Election Department determined the recall petition had been signed by at least 2,106 registered voters from the city's Ward 1, which Moncrief represents.

Of a random sample of 500 petition signatures, 489, or 97.8 percent, were determined to be acceptable, Ronemus said. Only 77.7 percent of the sample needed to be considered acceptable to force a recall election.

By law Ronemus now must announce the date of the recall election no sooner than 10 days from Wednesday and no later than 20 days from Wednesday. That election must be held within 30 days of the announcement.

With that timeline, the recall election, barring any legal challenges, will be held before the end of January.

Potential challengers will have until 20 days before the date of the recall election to submit nominating petitions to put them on the ballot. To be successful those petitions must go through the same verification process as the recall petition.

Quinn, an activist for increased access to public buildings for the handicapped, said the petition to put her on a recall ballot has about 2,300 signatures -- almost 200 more than necessary.

"We're just excited to move forward and expecting the election around the end of January," she said.

Former Clark County School Board member Lois Tarkanian also has supporters collecting signatures for her candidate-nominating petition. She said she did not know how many they had so far.

Also, Peter "Chris" Christoff, a longtime government critic, has said he will try to get on the recall ballot.

If no challengers submit enough acceptable signatures to get on the recall ballot, voters would choose between keeping Moncrief or not. If Moncrief lost that election, the remaining council members would either appoint a replacement or hold a special election to fill Moncrief's seat.

Former Councilman Michael McDonald, who lost to Moncrief in last year's city elections, said Wednesday he has received many calls from people asking him to run again, but said he will not enter the race.

McDonald also would not weigh in on the recall beyond saying that he thinks Quinn and Tarkanian would both "do a wonderful job" if elected to the council.

In addition to the pending campaign finance charges, Moncrief's opponents say she has failed to keep unwanted development out of their ward.

Most specifically, they say McDonald could have blocked a proposed Social Security building that the council approved despite Moncrief's opposition.